In line with Article 7.2(k) of the
Convention, COP 1 adopted, by consensus, financial rules for itself, the secretariat and the Subsidiary
Bodies (SBs) (“financial procedures”, contained in Annex I of decision 15/CP.1). These rules provide for a two-year
financial period, of which the first year must be an even numbered year. This corresponds to the
practice in the United Nations at large. Every two years, the Executive Secretary proposes a programme
budget to the Subsidiary Body for Implantation (SBI), setting out the proposed activities and budget of the
secretariat for the coming two years. The SBI considers the proposal and forwards a recommended
programme budget to the Conference of the Parties (COP) for its approval. The COP adopts the budget by
consensus. more >>

Recent developments

The COP at its nineteenth session approved the programme budget for the biennium 2014-2015, amounting to EUR
54,648,484 ( decision
27/CP.19). The Conference of the Parties serving as the meeting of the Parties to the Kyoto Protocol
(CMP) at its ninth session endorsed the decision by the COP ( decision 10/CMP.9).

Implementation of the Headquarters Agreement

Background

Following the acceptance by the COP ( decision
16/CP.1) of the offer by the Government of Germany of February 1995 to host the secretariat of
the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change in Bonn, Germany ( A/AC.237/Misc.45), the
Government of Germany, the United Nations and the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate
Change concluded a Headquarters Agreement, which entered into force in October 1997 (FCCC/CP/1996/Misc.1).

Since then, the Subsidiary Body on Implementation (SBI) has regularly reviewed the implementation of the
Headquarters Agreement, initially at every session. Since the eighteenth session of the
SBI (June 2003, Bonn, Germany), the Host Government and the Executive Secretary each have reported
on the implementation of the Headquarters Agreement to every other SBI session. In addition, since
the thirty-sixth session of the SBI (May 2012, Bonn, Germany), the secretariat has been keeping Parties
informed on an on-going basis through the Implementation Updates on the
UNFCCC web-site.

The topics considered under this sub-item traditionally include: the legal status and treatment of
participants to UNFCCC meetings in Germany; the legal status and treatment of the secretariat, its
staff, affiliates and associated family members; the office accommodation of the secretariat; and the
provision of a conference centre for use by the United Nations.

Recent developments

In September 2013, about half of the secretariat's staff moved into its new office premises on
the United Nations Campus in Bonn. The remaining half, currently remaining in the secretariat's
old headquarters five kilometres away, is scheduled to move into a newly built Annex building on
the United Nations Campus in 2018.

Construction work on the extension of the World Conference Centre Bonn, immediately adjacent to the
United Nations Campus, is continuing and completion is anticipated for the beginning of 2015, in time for the
forty-second sessions of the subsidiary bodies. The World Conference Centre Bonn is designed to meet the
standards for United Nations meetings and conferences with up to 5,000 participants.

The SBI last considered the implementation of the Headquarters Agreement at its fortieth session (June 2014,
Bonn, Germany). It acknowledged the special efforts and investments made since 1997 by both the
Host Government and the host city of Bonn to provide adequate conference facilities to the Parties and office
accommodation to the secretariat. It encouraged the Host Government to continue to provide support for the
establishment and operation of the conference centre as a permanent forum for the intergovernmental process.
It requested the secretariat to maximize the combined use of the new office and conference facilities for
UNFCCC sessions and meetings in order to reduce costs and further enhance the services available at the seat
of the secretariat. It encouraged the Host Government and the secretariat to maintain a process of close and
regular consultations.

The SBI will review the implementation of the Headquarters Agreement again at its forty-second session (June
2015, Bonn, Germany).

Key documents considered at the sessions held in Warsaw (SBI 39, COP 19, CMP 9)

FCCC/SBI/2013/6
Proposed programme budget for the biennium 2014-2015. Note by the Executive Secretary.